Office and Vista: Can't we give Microsoft some props? — Microsoft posts its best fiscal first quarter in years and Wall Street cheers. But the angst goes on. — Derrick Shields at SeekingAlpha asks how can Microsoft stay competitive. The common refrain: The days of Office and Vista are numbered.

Prism — Personal computing is currently in a state of transition. While traditionally users have interacted mostly with desktop applications, more and more of them are using web applications. But the latter often fit awkwardly into the document-centric interface of web browsers.

Oracle calls BEA's price 'impossibly high' — Oracle has rejected BEA Systems' proposed purchase price of $21 per share, calling it "impossibly high" for Oracle or any other company to pay. — In a letter to BEA's board dated Oct. 25, Oracle again urged the company to accept its offer of $17 per share …

Senate OKs 7 more years of tax-free Net access, e-mail — Scarcely a week before an existing ban on Internet access taxes is set to expire, the U.S. Senate late on Thursday voted to let it live on for seven more years. — The compromise bill, which was approved by a voice vote …

Fastest Growing Facebook Group Now Has A Million Members — Unfortunately, the fastest growing Facebook group ever is not a very spontaneous affair; it's part of a US presidential candidate's campaign. However, the results are quite astonishing. — Responding to Barack Obama's Facebook …

MYSPACE LOVE$ FACEBOOK VALUE — If Facebook is worth $15 billion, then MySpace is worth $65 billion. — That's the take of RBC Capital Markets analyst David Bank, who applied the $357 Microsoft ascribed to each of Facebook's 42 million registered users in Wednesday's deal …

Student's Ad Gets a Remake, and Makes the Big Time — The idea that you do not have to be a professional to create a good commercial is becoming widespread, in a trend known as consumer-generated content. Leave it to Apple to — paraphrasing the company's old slogan a bit — think differently.

More Goodies in Apple's New Operating System — In today's Times, I reviewed Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X 10.5 "Leopard." I noted that Apple claims to have added over 300 new features. — Trouble is, if I tried to describe them all in my 1,280-word column, I'd have 4.3 words to describe and assess each one.

Merrill's Chief Is Said to Consider a Bid to Merge — Facing billions of dollars in losses from the subprime mortgage crisis, Merrill Lynch chairman and chief executive, E. Stanley O'Neal, floated the idea of a merger with a large bank, a foray that angered Merrill's board and could cost him his job …

Nintendo rules out Wii price cut — TOKYO - Fresh off bumper earnings, Nintendo Co. ruled out a price cut for its smash-hit Wii video game console Friday and announced the company will being selling the Wii in China next year. — Profits at Nintendo have surged on the runaway success …

SearchMash, Now in Flash — SearchMash, Google's experimental site launched last year to test new user interfaces for search results, has a Flash version (requires IE/Firefox and Flash 9). The site uses tabs to let you seamlessly switch between different search engines: web search …

UK mobiles not worth stealing — Mobile phones stolen in the UK are locked from their own network within 48 hours, and 98 per cent of them are locked from all (UK) networks within 48 hours. Despite that 800,000 were stolen last year, according to government figures.

2018 Top 100 Global Tech Leaders — 21st century technology-sector leadership requires more than financial success. It also requires a commitment to compliance, innovation, and much more. Who are today's leaders?